


Wish Upon A Star

by gimmicks



Series: Reaper76 Week 2017 [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Pre-Relationship, Reaper76 Week, Soldier Enhancement Program
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 18:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9338465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gimmicks/pseuds/gimmicks
Summary: Gabriel Reyes meets Jack Morrison on day one of the newly-christened Soldier Enhancement Program.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This work was written for Reaper76 week under the prompt "How We Were" - History/Decay.

They meet on the first day of the SEP.

 

Gabriel makes his way through the winding corridors to his room, folding and re-folding the paper in his hands. He doesn’t remember much of the orientation he was just given; his mind was too preoccupied creating fantastical scenarios – would they grow to be ten feet tall, with the strength to wipe a Bastion off its feet with one swing? – and by the time the director’s speech was over and he was given his room assignment, he was practically a living ball of nervous energy. 

 

He looks up as the entrance to his room approaches. His paper confirms he is in the right place, and he unlocks the door, shouldering it open and surveying his living space for the foreseeable future.

 

There are two large beds on either side of the room, with a desk settled at the foot of each. Windows line the back wall; the blinds are up, and the morning sunlight streams through, basking the room in warmth. The space still looks almost empty; his roommate has not unpacked their bag yet, and it sits on one of the beds. 

 

Gabriel heaves a sigh and sets his own bag onto the other bed, unzipping it and pulling out his possessions. As he refolds his clothes and shoves them into a nearby dresser, he thinks on his roommate. It seems as though the guy has been here already, yet he left – to socialize with the others, maybe? Gabriel is a little offended that the guy didn’t wait to meet him, but he guesses he’ll get to see him soon enough. He continues unpacking, pulling out his books and stacking them on the desk.

 

Soon enough, his bag is completely empty and the room looks vaguely like somewhere he’d like to live. He found a set of SEP-issue training clothes packed into a drawer of his dresser, and he pulls them out and changes out of his army uniform. After so many hours of sweating inside the scratchy linen fabric, the soft cotton against his skin is a welcome relief. Exhaling loudly, he scrubs a hand over his newly-buzzed hair and glances at the clock.

 

1307, the red numbers vibrantly display. Gabriel inwardly grumbles; he hasn’t eaten all day – not good for a burgeoning super soldier. He surveys the room a final time and, satisfied everything is in place, heads towards the door. However, as he reaches for the handle, it swings open to reveal the man who Gabriel assumes will be his roommate.

 

Both men step back, alarmed at the sudden meeting; Gabriel recovers, sticks his hand into the space between them. The other guy takes it; his grip is strong, fingers expertly squeezing Gabriel’s hand. Gabriel tries to squeeze back just as hard; he wants to show this guy that he is just as capable.

 

The man standing before him is built like the perfect military man. He looks like he was pulled straight out of some perfect Midwestern town. He has one arm stretched forward – presumably to open the door – and Gabriel notes the built muscles there. The guy’s face is chiseled too – with the addition of golden hair and a shockingly blue gaze, he looks like the perfect all-American hero, someone who graces the covers of magazines. 

 

Also, Gabriel thinks, he looks attractive. His face looks soft and welcoming, something he would love to come home to, but his hand is calloused and hardened, and Gabriel knows the guy could easily take control – whether on the battlefield or in more… intimate places. He inwardly chides himself for thinking of his roommate that way; he doesn’t want their time together to be awkward, and with his current train of thought, he won’t be able to look at the guy without blushing. He shakes the thoughts out of his head.

 

“Hey, guess you must be my roommate,” Gabriel offers with a half-hearted chuckle. “Name’s Gabriel Reyes. Pleasure.”

 

The guy smiles. “Jack Morrison, nice to meet you.”

 

Jack moves to enter the room. Gabriel steps aside, and he breezes by, heads to the bed. “So, how does the facility look?”

 

Jack runs a hand over his face and groans. “It’s like a maze here – I’m pretty sure I got lost at least twice trying to find the rec room.” He turns to the bed and begins rummaging through his bag.

 

Gabriel hoists himself onto his bed, watching Jack unpack and populate his side of the room. Everything is looking more homely and lived-in – a good thing, since they’re stuck here for the time being while the government does who-knows-what to them. “Well, I was actually just heading to the mess. Want to come with?”

 

Jack nods, still unpacking. “Just let me finish up with this, and then we can head out.” The room lapses into silence, and Gabriel slips back into his thoughts.

 

He thinks of the life he left in L.A. He hopes his sisters are safe – the airstrikes just keep coming, the omnics relentlessly barraging the urban sprawl of Orange County. Many of Gabriel’s close friends are now dead because of it; it’s what drove him to join the military in the first place. He only accepted the invitation to the SEP because he wants to be at his best – the enigma surrounding the program irks him, to say the least.

 

Jack coughs, and Gabriel looks up to see him standing next to the door. “You ready?”

 

Gabriel shakes away the thoughts and hops down. “Sure, sure. Let’s get going.” 

 

As they begin their search for the mess, Gabriel jokes, “You think they put steroids in the food? Got to get us jump started on the super soldier diet, I guess.”

 

Jack chuckles. “Yeah, bet they do. Soon enough we’ll all be brain-dead bodybuilders.”

 

Gabriel feels a laugh bubble up from his throat; as much as he knows it won’t happen, he can’t help but think of a hundred super soldiers lumbering around base, able to crush a Bastion in between their fists but without the knowledge of what a Bastion even is. “Damn, guess I’ll make sure to avoid the mashed potatoes then.”

 

It’s an inane joke, no real meaning or humor, and he knows it, but for some reason Jack loses it. He breaks down into loud guffaws, hands on his knees to keep himself from falling over. Gabriel reaches out and puts a hand on Jack’s shoulder, steadying him, and feels the racket of his chest. “You okay there, amigo?”

 

Jack rises back to his full height and wipes tears from his shimmering eyes. He steadies himself and turns to Gabriel, still chuckling. “I’m good, I’m good. Let’s go.”

 

The rest of the walk fades into silence; Gabriel marvels at the span of the compound. It’s finally sinking in that he’ll be spending the foreseeable future here; the fluorescent lights begin to itch at his vision; the walls look too white, as if the entire building is one large surgery ward.

 

“Hey, um… Gabriel?”

 

He is startled out of his reverie when Jack speaks. His concern spikes when he hears the withdrawn nature of Jack’s voice. He hums an acknowledgement. “What’s up, farm boy?”

 

Jack is silent for a moment. Then, hesitantly, “…do you think we’re gonna make it out of this?” His voice shakes with trepidation, and he sounds small.

 

Gabriel is stunned into silence. He is quick to recover, however, and he swallows his own rising dread. “I think…” He hesitates, unsure if he’s crossing a line. “I think if we stick together, we’ll be fine.” He gives a small smile, hoping he hasn’t ruined the burgeoning partnership he’s begun to forge.

 

To his delight, Jack’s tense expression opens up; a grin blossoms on his face, his eyes sparkling in the sharp light. “Yeah I think we’ll do just fine.”

 

-_-_-

 

As Gabriel lies at the nadir of the impact crater, pinned under a slab of the roof, he thinks of the day he met Jack Morrison. As his body withers away, he remembers his first encounter with the farm boy, remembers making him smile. He remembers all that came after; the horror that was the SEP, the end of the Crisis, the formation of Overwatch and all the bullshit that followed. Through all of it, Jack was his constant, his rock – the only one he could trust, the only one he truly cared for, truly loved. Now, as his body withers away, Gabriel feels the last comfort slip into the abyss. Jack – his ¬Jack – is gone. 

 

As Gabriel feels his body fall apart, death fast approaching, he looks up into the sky, marred by smoke but still as vibrant as that first day. He wishes upon whatever stars are out there; he prays, Please let everything be okay again. Please take it – take us – back to the way we were.

 

He slips into the abyss of midnight below him, and his eyes close for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first work, so I'd appreciate constructive criticism of any kind. This work was un-betaed as well; I edited it myself, so I might have overlooked some things.
> 
> I responded to the History part of this prompt more than Decay; I tried to include a little bit of decay at the end, but I didn't really invest much into it.
> 
> I've tagged this as Major Character Death as, in this story's continuum, Gabriel Reyes is implied to be dead, and we see what the audience believes to be his last moments. Many readers may know that Gabriel does not die, and instead is revived and awakens as the Reaper. However, this future is not discussed in the work, and as such, I have tagged it accordingly.
> 
> I've got tumblr [here.](http://actualfatherjackmorrison.tumblr.com) Go check it out and shoot me an ask if you'd like to talk. I like to think I'm a friendly person. Also, I don't really know HTML, and I'd love to figure out how to indent, so if you have that knowledge, please hit me up.


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